Annie Elizabeth apple

Annie Elizabeth is an old-fashioned English cooking apple, possibly a seedling of Blenheim Orange, which it resembles in shape and size, and also in its relatively sweet flavour.

This is one of the best apple varieties for any recipe which calls for an apple which keeps its shape when cooked - interesting, given that Blenheim Orange cooks to a puree.

It is also an easy variety to grow in the garden, fairly resistant to most of the usual diseases and tolerant of the wet mild climates often found in northern Europe. A notable feature is the attractive purple blossom.

Last updated 29 Dec 2013.

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Current rating: 5.0 out of 5.
Total votes cast: 1

Visitor comments

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12 Jun 2016
Rod Blair,
VIC, Australia

I have at last managed to find an AE here in Australia. Very rare here. Family lore has it that my Grandmother (born 1879) was named after this apple

11 Sep 2012
Luc,
France

Is this the variety called Lanscailler ou Lancashire in northern France ?
Delightful in "tarte tatin".

10 Oct 2011
Gill Tennant,
CEREDIGION, United Kingdom

I planted a 12 tree orchard when we moved here 30 years ago, and have replaced and supplemented those original fruit trees over the years. I particularly wanted an Annie Elizabeth to extend the fruit season, and the volunteer gardeners at Llanerchaeron, a local National Trust traditional estate where I worked as a volunteer for a time, grafted and grew me one, as it was not available commercially near me. It has been planted for about 8 years now and yielded good crops. This year it has forked sticks protected by cloths supporting very heavily laden branches! I have picked up 4 trays of windfalls and we have only just entered October. My son is visiting to help 'harvest' and take fruit back home!

10 Sep 2011
Neil Masey,
EAST SUSSEX, United Kingdom

I have a beautiful specimen that is over 100 years old and is a fantastic shape, having been well tended to over the years. This tree was one of a pair in a small orchard of other trees at the end of the garden of a huge house. This is now my own back garden.
The fruit is juicy and delicious and I made 48 jars of spiced apple chutney in 2010 and over 30 pounds of apple sauce from the crop. It seems to have produced more fruit this year but this has ripened many weeks earlier than last year and today (10th Sept) the leaves are already on the turn.
My beloved grandma is called Annie Elizabeth and my cherished cat if 18 years is buried under it. I like to think a little bit of her soul is in every apple.

16 Jun 2011
Petek,
BERKSHIRE, United Kingdom

The tree is in the front garden and seems to produce fruit every two years. It is, sadly, in poor condition and approximately 100 years old

10 Apr 2010
N. Buck,
CAMBRIDGESHIRE, United Kingdom

Annie Elizabeth is the finest cooked apple that I've tasted - and I grow (or grew) quite a few different varieties of apple to compare against.
The fruits also make very well-flavoured but slightly acid eating apples.
Blossom buds start off as dark maroon-red, but open to produce pale pink blossom. Annie flowers slightly late, but not so late that pollination could be a problem.
As mentioned in an earlier post; the trees have an upright tendency.
Disease resistance and pest resistance is good.
Over the years, I've grown, planted or grafted several Annie Elizabeth trees and I always find them to be slower to settle in to a new location and slower to get a good root system down. They also seem to grow smaller root systems than many apple trees of similar above-ground size.
Another problem with the trees is that the fruits are very large, which causes many fruits to break off under their own weight, when tossed around by strong winds.
Either give the tree wind protection, or grow it as a smaller tree that moves less in the wind.....otherwise, accept that strong winds could cause a lot of fruit to drop before it's ripe.
If it wasn't for the excellent fruit flavour and overall fairly good resistance to pests and diseases, I would have given up on this variety long ago.

18 Nov 2009
Paul,
SOMERSET, United Kingdom

hi, i lost my wife in 2007 and 8 months later my 17 year old daughter too, have planted a 31 tree orchard in there memory, but it soon will be 32 ,when i get a annie tree.after reading your comment

03 Nov 2009
Elizabeth,
LEICESTERSHIRE, United Kingdom

I planted an Annie Elizabeth 20 years ago in memory of my daughter and was delighted to read that it comes form Knighton, just a couple of miles up the road from where she was born. I have found it to be a useful all round apple which keeps well and holds its shape when cooked.

27 Oct 2009
Melanie,
LEICESTERSHIRE, United Kingdom

Annie Elizabeth comes originally from a garden in Knighton, Leicestershire. It is said to have been named after the daughter of the family who died very young. The trees tend to be quite upright .

11 Oct 2009
Anne Osborne,
SUNSHINE COAST, QUEENSLAND,, Australia

I have heard that 'Annie Elizabeth' originated from an allotment in Knighton, Leicestershire.
I have a fondness for this Apple because I am an Annie Elizabeth too.

24 Dec 2008
Mal,
GATESHEAD, United Kingdom

I've just planted one of these on my Gateshead allotment - for my daughter, Annie Elizabeth!

10 Oct 2008
Annie,
INDIANA, United States

It's kind of ironic because i was at a local orchard and they had these beautiful apples and i asked one of the little kids working there what it was and he said he didn't know. So I came home and later I was googling my name and this popped up, the exact apple i was looking at! also, annie elizabeth is my name so i will definatly be planting and enjoying these apples!

14 Sep 2008
Ursula Blair,
BRIGHTON, EAST SUSSEX, United Kingdom

We moved two years ago to Saltdean, in the garden is a large apple tree, the first year we had no apples at all, so thought about getting rid of it. This we have so many lovely juicey apple but I didn't know what they were, your site has just solved that for me. They do cook very well, but intersring to now they can be left on the tree for so long. But how long can you store them, and what is the best way to store them. Many Thanks for your info

25 May 2008
Graham Stocks,
LEICESTERSHIRE, United Kingdom

We have an old tree - planted late 1890s by my great-
grandfather. Successfully grafted a few offspring. Fruit
can be
left on the tree until December - keeps well. We regard this
apple as both an eater (if you haven't got too sweet a tooth)
and a cooker. Tends to scab and is a biennial fruiter.
Wouldn't
describe the blossom as purple - more the usual pink and white.

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A popular English culinary apple, which keeps its shape when cooked.

Origins

Species: Malus domestica

Parentage: Possibly a Blenheim Orange seedling

Originates from: England, United Kingdom

Introduced: 1850s

Orange Pippin Cultivar ID: 1003

UK National Fruit Collection accession: 1957-175

Identification

Fruit colour: Red / Orange flush

Bultitude apple group: 3. Flushed / striped, smooth, acidic, culinary

Using

Uses: Cooking

Cooking result: Keeps shape

Flavour quality: Good

Harvest period: Late season

Use / keeping: 3 months or more

Vitamin C content: Medium

Growing

Flowering period: Mid-Late season

Flowering group: 4

Fertility: Partially self-fertile

Ploidy: Diploid

Vigour: Slightly large

Fruit bearing: Spur-bearer

Attractive features: Attractive blossom

General disease resistance: Good

Climate

Blossom frost-resistance: Good resistance

Diseases

Canker
- Some resistance

Scab
- Some resistance

Mildew
- Some resistance

Relationships to other varieties

Parents and other ancestors of this variety:

Blenheim Orange (parent) - Annie Elizabeth is believed to be a seedling of Blenheim Orange

Our Top 10 most popular variety descriptions

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